Just before the U18 World Junior Championships it appeared Kingston blueliner Erik Gudbranson had managed to pull away from his fellow blueliners as the top rated defenseman in his class despite a draft season where he was hampered by a bout of mono and an early knee injury. However, after a poor U18 tournament in which most of the Canadian team struggled, heâ€™s fallen back into the pack. Unlike his biggest competition, though, Cam Fowler and Brandon Gormley, Gudbranson has a legendary mean streak and will never be accused of being soft. Gudbranson loves to take the body and on the rare occassion he drops the gloves he tends to handle his business. Heâ€™s an above average skater with a hard shot, but heâ€™s only put up modest numbers to this point in his junior career, with just 2 goals and 23 points in 41 games last season for the Frontenacs. Some scouts see visions of late blooming Dion Phaneuf in Gudbranson, but whatever team takes Gudbranson will undoubtedly be making a gamble that his offensive game will develop. The team that takes him could just as well be ending up with a right handed version of Mike Komisarek instead. Thatâ€™s a gamble the Lightning may be willing to make. On paper, as a physically imposing righty shot, Gudbranson would be the perfect complement to the more finesse lefty shot of Victor Hedman[4], freeing up the big Swede to be more of an offensive force in Guy Boucher's 1-3-1 system. In the past two drafts the team has lucked out in getting the best prospect for their immediate needs, and in this draft Gudbranson probably wins that title. However, itâ€™s doubtful the team will get lucky enough to secure Gudbransonâ€™s rights because itâ€™s hard to believe heâ€™ll slip past the Islanders at five, if he even makes it that far. If he were to slip to the sixth pick, though, the Lightning might pounce on him as quickly as a lion on an antelope. Alternatively, if Gudbranson does slip and is the last of the top three defensemen remaining, the club may be able to demand a ransom to trade down with another team that has blueline needs.